New Haven Women's Resettlement Working Group

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Friday, August 31, 2018

Meeting Notes8.30.2018

Welcome and go round - welcome new members!

Summer catch up

Support Coordination: Welcome home project – Trina Sexton has left York through promotion. Theresa Kouris (Theresa.kouris@ct.gov.us ) might be a good new contact as a reentry counselor. Amber will check in with Amy and potentially contact Theresa is Amy is not already in contact with her.

Check back in with TIC center if no one has a place to go. Chuck says he will meet with folks to better ensure they have resources if they have none when they hit the ground here.

Resource Coordination: Need to check up on the re-entry guide (has been updated!), checking on whether a gender specific version has been created (Jackie will call Sandra to check on this)

Advocacy: Still interested in speaker’s bureau around CT. Tao Foundation might be one area of support for this as they move more into support for advocacy for policy change

Meet dates/times: This meeting was particularly low turn out. Mondays also did not work for everyone. One suggestion was to meet following the Re-entry Roundtable on the third Wednesday of each month. Jackie will contact Pastor James to see if space might be available to meet for this group as well.

PLEASE COMPLETE THIS WHEN2MEET POLL REGARDING THE BEST DAY/TIME PER WEEK TO MEET FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS. IF FOLLOWING RE-ENTRY ROUNDTABLE WORKS FOR YOU (WED, 12:30), PLEASE MAKE SURE THIS IS ONE OF THE TIMES YOU NOTE AS AVAILABLE - https://www.when2meet.com/?7041778-nsIBQ

Additionally – Doug Hood wrote in and reported that though he was not able to attend, but wanted to share the following updates:

"Perhaps most know of it, but Heather Ann Thompson wrote an award-winning book on the definitive story of the Attica uprising, called Blood in the Water. --- There was another successful state clemency recently so I have joined with the public defender who did it and we have another case from York we are working on. Also I am working with an attorney in Hartford for a different case from York. Her petition was accepted by the prosecutor for a sentence modification hearing before a judge in late September--something pretty rarely agreed to. Hopeful for both. --- Wally Lamb's book of essays for the (14) women of York was accepted for publication in Spring 2019. For his final chapter he interviewed some ten of them about their reentry. --- I will look forward to the notes and next meeting. Best, Doug

Other Announcements:

Housing Not Jails: A True Story of New Haven’s Homeless Population - performance: Friday, September 7, 6pm @ Brgamos Community Theater

Women’s coalition is also bringing in Susan Burton (Formerly incarcerated activist who works with other formerly incarcerated folks and formed the non-profit A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project, where they provide housing, legal services, and advocacy to help women rebuild their lives following incarceration. She is on a prison book tour for her new book ‘Becoming Ms. Burton’) to speak for International Women’s Day, March 8.

-Stephanie Covington coming back to present for 3-day conference in June 2019 through the women’s consortium (June 4-6, Standford Hilton). More information at www.covingtonconference.com

Re-entry Roundtable meetings: 3rd Wednesday of every month, 11-12:30 Church on the Rock (95 Hamilton St)

Priorities for the year to come: will await next meeting (which will be scheduled following the results of the when2meet poll) for larger turn out to establish

Please note that during our planning retreat in December, 2017, we came up with several working groups to better catalyze the work of the organization. Refer to notes from that meeting (found on this website) to learn what groups emerged from this meeting. We will be breaking into these groups during the second half of each of our meetings going forward. Please join us in this work!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Goodwill Southern New England is a major provider of re-entry services and support for formerly incarcerated people in New Haven.The organization has moved to a new location on Grand Ave, in the Project MORE Building.Please join us in celebrating this new development in the agency's work!

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

WRWG Leadership - Beatrice Codianni, Jackie Lucibello, Amy Smoyer, Sandra Weins, and Shannon Clarkson - are all attending the biannual conference of the Association of Justice-Involved Females and Organizations. This year's conference will be held in Santa Clara, CA, December 11-13, 2017. For more information about the conference, visit: https://www.ajfo.org/2017-conference

Beatrice, Jackie & Amy will be presenting on the work of WRWG and SWAN, with a focus on sharing experiences about the leadership formerly incarcerated women in these initiatives. Their panel is entitled, Nothing About Us Without Us. (Click on title for full abstract.)

Financial support is needed to cover the travel expenses of Beatrice and Jackie. Both of these women are volunteers who donate their time and expertise to WRWG and SWAN. It is critical that they participate in the dissemination of this work. The Social Work Association for Graduate Students (SWAG) at Quinnipiac University has created a GoFundMe site to raise funds for these expenses. Please contribute whatever you can afford - no donation is too big or too small.